When an IVR/Speech (Interactive Voice Recognition) system does not meet a customer’s expectations, they become frustrated and hang up or “zero out” to a live agent. According to Forrester Research, customer satisfaction levels with IVR systems fall in the 10 percent range, compared with a satisfaction rate of approximately 80 percent for face-to-face interactions. What a surprise. Companies continue to foist their rubbish services on us because of the numbers. If you or I talk to a human being, it costs the company $10 per call handled. Companies such as NS International look at those numbers and think, get rid of the human agents.
Tal Cohen. “Optimizing IVR/Speech Using Customer Behavior Intelligence”. In Technology Media and Communications Net (TMCnet). 21 June 2004.
http://www.tmcnet.com/tmcnet/articles
